Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Sheila Ray, The Brave (words for said)
Sheila Ray, The Brave
Author: Kevin Henkes
Possible Common Core Standards:
RL.4.3
W.4.3
How many times have you read a student's story and the word said is used for every conversation? Use Sheila Ray, The Brave to help your students understand the usage of other words make their writing much more interesting. First, cover all of the said words in the story with a sticky note with the word said. Read the story. Go back through the story page by page removing the sticky notes and logging the word 'substituted' in the story on chart paper. Talk about how it makes the event interesting. Ask students to watch for more 'substitute' words for said in other text. Keep the chart in the room for use when writing.
I like the way Mr. Henkes uses other words yet also uses said in his story. I think it is important for students to know it is okay to use said....just not every time. :)
Friday, January 4, 2013
Whistle for Willie
Whistle for Willie
Author: Ezra Jack Keats
Possible Common Core Standards:
RL.4.2
RL.4.3
W.4.3
This idea could be done in one or more writing sessions depending on how much you want to develop it in your classroom.
This is a great story about perseverance. Read it and discuss it. How does the author let the reader know how much Willie wants to whistle? How do you as the reader know he is trying?
Ask students to think of something they had to work hard to learn how to do. My favorite example is my youngest son wanted to hit a ball with a bat. He spent hours in the yard throwing the ball up and swinging and missing. One day he finally hit it and he rarely missed after that. It could be learning to read or learning to subtract. For the students who tell you they didn't have any problems learning anything, tell them to make something up. :)
Ask students to think of either something that truly happened while learning or to make something up that would make the story more interesting. In Whistle for Willie, Willie hid in a box trying to whistle for his dog. In my son's story he could spin every time he misses and make himself dizzy. It's up to you as to whether or not it has to be realistic.
Author: Ezra Jack Keats
Possible Common Core Standards:
RL.4.2
RL.4.3
W.4.3
This idea could be done in one or more writing sessions depending on how much you want to develop it in your classroom.
This is a great story about perseverance. Read it and discuss it. How does the author let the reader know how much Willie wants to whistle? How do you as the reader know he is trying?
Ask students to think of something they had to work hard to learn how to do. My favorite example is my youngest son wanted to hit a ball with a bat. He spent hours in the yard throwing the ball up and swinging and missing. One day he finally hit it and he rarely missed after that. It could be learning to read or learning to subtract. For the students who tell you they didn't have any problems learning anything, tell them to make something up. :)
Ask students to think of either something that truly happened while learning or to make something up that would make the story more interesting. In Whistle for Willie, Willie hid in a box trying to whistle for his dog. In my son's story he could spin every time he misses and make himself dizzy. It's up to you as to whether or not it has to be realistic.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Sheila Rae, The Brave
Sheila Rae, The Brave
Author: Kevin Henkes
Possible Common Core Standards:
RL.4.1
RL.4.3
RL.4.4
W.4.3
W.4.4
Read Sheila Rae, The Brave. Ask for one characteristic that describes her...looking for the word brave. Look for and log examples of where she was brave and discuss why those events characterize her as brave. Was she brave throughout the story? Discuss. Talk about how the story revolves around the word brave.
Choose a word as a class to write a story similar to Sheila Rae, The Brave. Brainstorm and list possible examples displaying the characteristics of the word. Think of a few situations that would be the opposite of the word for the problem in the story. Write a class story using the examples thinking of a way to solve the main character's 'problem' and end with the character defining the main word again just as Sheila Rae does in her story. Title the story patterned the same as Sheila Ray, The Brave and make sure to put 'patterned after Sheila Ray, The Brave by Keven Henkes' with it.
Ask students to each (or with a partner) choose a word to base a story. I posted a link to a list of possible words below. Sneaky or messy come to mind as fun words to use. If the words seem too easy, use a thesaurus to find a similar word but not as well known. Have fun with it! After choosing the word, start logging situations that would make a reader think of the word. Think of a few situations that would be the opposite of the word for the problem in the story. Put the situations into a story. Make a bold statement using the word to start the story and include a solution to the problem along with an ending to the story. Title the story patterned the same as Sheila Ray, The Brave and make sure to put 'patterned after Sheila Ray, The Brave by Keven Henkes' with it.
List of character traits:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf
Author: Kevin Henkes
Possible Common Core Standards:
RL.4.1
RL.4.3
RL.4.4
W.4.3
W.4.4
Read Sheila Rae, The Brave. Ask for one characteristic that describes her...looking for the word brave. Look for and log examples of where she was brave and discuss why those events characterize her as brave. Was she brave throughout the story? Discuss. Talk about how the story revolves around the word brave.
Choose a word as a class to write a story similar to Sheila Rae, The Brave. Brainstorm and list possible examples displaying the characteristics of the word. Think of a few situations that would be the opposite of the word for the problem in the story. Write a class story using the examples thinking of a way to solve the main character's 'problem' and end with the character defining the main word again just as Sheila Rae does in her story. Title the story patterned the same as Sheila Ray, The Brave and make sure to put 'patterned after Sheila Ray, The Brave by Keven Henkes' with it.
Ask students to each (or with a partner) choose a word to base a story. I posted a link to a list of possible words below. Sneaky or messy come to mind as fun words to use. If the words seem too easy, use a thesaurus to find a similar word but not as well known. Have fun with it! After choosing the word, start logging situations that would make a reader think of the word. Think of a few situations that would be the opposite of the word for the problem in the story. Put the situations into a story. Make a bold statement using the word to start the story and include a solution to the problem along with an ending to the story. Title the story patterned the same as Sheila Ray, The Brave and make sure to put 'patterned after Sheila Ray, The Brave by Keven Henkes' with it.
List of character traits:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf
Monday, December 5, 2011
Water Cycle Story
We are writing stories about the water cycle. Students are using a drop of water as their character. Their character has to have a name and feelings. We've worked on using similes and sound words in our stories. This story will allow us to pull those in along with demonstrating our knowledge of the water cycle. We are also working on transitioning from one part of the story to the next without using transition words of next and then. After the stories are done the students will get to illustrate the story using Paint. They will create a background that will be used for every page of the story and the background has to match the setting of the story. The stories and illustrations will be used to create a PowerPoint presentation. Then the slides will be turned into jpg files and used to create a PhotoStory3 presentation. This gives us the opportunity to use the PowerPoint program and PhotoStory3.
Student examples: http://mrscooksfantasticfourthgrade.blogspot.com/2012/01/some-more-water-cycle-stories-1-2-3.html
http://mrscooksfantasticfourthgrade.blogspot.com/2011/12/water-cycle-movies.html
Student examples: http://mrscooksfantasticfourthgrade.blogspot.com/2012/01/some-more-water-cycle-stories-1-2-3.html
http://mrscooksfantasticfourthgrade.blogspot.com/2011/12/water-cycle-movies.html
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thesaurus and Writing and Nouns
The students typed a simple sentence into Word. For example:
The little boy cried.
They highlighted little and right clicked. Then they looked at synonyms and clicked on thesaurus. They had a good time looking for a new word to use for little. Then we did the same thing for cried. Nothing came up but the word cry. We talked about it being the base word of cry so told the computer to look up cry. Once again they enjoyed the choices of words. We talked about having to add ed to the word because the sentence was past tense. The new sentences were definitely more interesting that the original.
One day we highlighted, copied and pasted a passage into word. We also copied and pasted the address so anyone looking at our paper would know where the passage came from. Then we practiced bolding words by looking for nouns to bold. We also changed the color of the text a few times just to get them familiar with it.
The little boy cried.
They highlighted little and right clicked. Then they looked at synonyms and clicked on thesaurus. They had a good time looking for a new word to use for little. Then we did the same thing for cried. Nothing came up but the word cry. We talked about it being the base word of cry so told the computer to look up cry. Once again they enjoyed the choices of words. We talked about having to add ed to the word because the sentence was past tense. The new sentences were definitely more interesting that the original.
One day we highlighted, copied and pasted a passage into word. We also copied and pasted the address so anyone looking at our paper would know where the passage came from. Then we practiced bolding words by looking for nouns to bold. We also changed the color of the text a few times just to get them familiar with it.
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